GrassClan's Struggle
by lloinng
Summary: GrassClan and StoneClan has always lived in harmony, but when Bumblestar of StoneClan sends his fierce warriors in order to gain more hunting territory, will GrassClan, a generally peaceful Clan, survive the brutal battles?


**Disclaimer: Warriors isn't mine!**

**Author's Note: Holy StarClan, this was the longest chapter I've ever written, easily shattering the record! The whole prologue was 2076 words long, with four pages! Well, this certainly took a long time to write...Oh well, enjoy, and please leave a review if you liked! :)**

**Also, I'm sorry I didn't update anything else, but I really really wanted to get this out! *hiding behind door* I'm so sorryyyy ;-;**

**Prologue**

The weather wasn't good. Then again, the weather always wasn't good, not in Leaffall, when the extreme temperatures of the ocean affected it, bringing storms and small tidal waves, making it hard for the cats to travel out of their dens. Nightstar winced, ruffling his jet black fur as he prepared to try and brave the storm. He usually wouldn't do so, as storms on the sea were usually quite brutal. However, today was a special occasion.

His mate, Tansyflower, was giving birth.

As he walked outside of the leader's den, shivering at the rain and harsh wind thrown his way, he reflected on how lucky they were to have the medicine cat den quite literally above the nursery. It certainly helped with helping ill or birthing queens, as the fragile medicine cats weren't very much for braving gargantuan storms.

As the amber-eyed tom finally made it to the entrance of the nursery, he winced again as he heard a shrill yowl from below. He raced in, and couldn't help but close his eyes for a moment at the situation.

Tansyflower's tan stomach was heaving and still plump, indicating she hadn't given birth yet. She yowled again, even as her grass green eyes shot up to look at her mate, eyes fill with love, colored with pain.

"Nightstar! You're here..." The medicine cat Mousewing looked up from helping the birthing queen as he noticed the leader's arrival. His apprentice, Poppypaw, looked up from where she was nervously fidgeting with herbs, dark brown, almost black eyes wide.

Nightstar dipped his head at the trio. "How are you doing?" He directed the question at his mate, worried.

Tansyflower gave him a short nod, but suddenly gave a loud gasp. "Mousewing! The kits...KITS!" She yowled as a tremor passed through her body, drawing another yowl of pain. Cloudclaw, a fellow queen, quickly walked over and tried to calm Tansyflower. "It's fine, Tansy, it's fine. Just a wave of pain..."

Nightstar looked at the working cats, feeling nonplussed, like when he just became a leader all over again. Mousewing glanced over, then told him tersely, "Nightstar, please fetch some moss soaked with water. It's somewhere in my den."

Nightstar nodded numbly before exiting the nursery, pelting up to get the moss they needed. Even though it was extremely rare, queens may die from birthing, and he wasn't about to let that happen. He found some moss in a corner of the medicine den, and quickly dipped it in the fresh water supply of the medicine den before going back to where his mate was kitting.

However, when he got back, Mousewing was urging the she-cat to push again, and Nightstar could see Poppypaw licking a bundle of fur. He raced over, dropping the moss by the gray medicine cat's feet.

"That's...that's our first kit?" The black-furred leader asked, voice hoarse.

Poppypaw looked up and smiled, reddish brown fur sticking up in odd places from the hard work. "Congratulations, Nightstar. You're a father now."

Nightstar smiled, a smile that reached the stars, but still couldn't convey his happiness properly. "I'm...I'm a father! I have kits! I'm a _father_!"

A weak, feminine, voice reached the exuberant leader. "I'm a mother now..." Nightstar looked over to the tired Tansyflower, two kits now by her side, and he raced over, licking her face furiously, laughing in between.

After a whole laughing fit, with the medicine cat and his apprentice silently retreating, smiling at the fluffiness, the two cats settled together for naming the kits.

There were two, both toms. One had a dark brown pelt, a mix between the parents, and the other was a gray tabby, presumably from Tansyflower's father, now an elder, Streamstride. Nightstar smiled and jabbed a paw at the dark brown kit. "Dustkit?"

Tansyflower purred. "And Stormkit, for this one?"

Nightstar purred back, and nudged his mate. "Why not? Look at our beautiful kits, Tansyflower. Dustkit and Stormkit, the best looking kits you've ever seen."

Tansyflower laughed. "That I'll have to agree with, Nightstar."

Suddenly, a cat rushed through the cave entrance. It was Berrypelt, a new warrior. His brown eyes were wide with fear and panic as he mewed. "Nightstar! My bro-," He gulped, ruffling his fur, "My brother is missing!"

Nightstar stood up, eyes narrowing. Blizzardflight was one of the best fighters in the Clan, and he was also kind and warmhearted, making friends with the Clan extremely quickly, in fact, just a few days after he was made a warrior. They could not afford to lose this cat. Tansyflower nudged him, signaling for him to go on, that she'll be fine. Nightstar nodded at his mate, then quickly went with Berrypelt, trying to ignore the effect of the howling storm.

As the cold air hit him and made him shiver, Berrypelt turned to him and began to explain what happened. As it turned out, Blizzardflight had been hunting when the storm started, and still hasn't come back.

Nightstar narrowed his eyes, jumping on to the large rock he used for speaking.

"Cats of GrassClan, gather around for a Clan meeting!" He yowled, watching as cats slowly trudged out of their dens, complaining under their breaths. "As some of you may know, Blizzardflight was out hunting earlier today, before the storm started. He still has not come back. Who is willing to join a patrol to find him?"

A collective gasp came from the gathered cats. It was't extremely rare for cats to disappear during storms, as they were usually quite brutal and could blow an unsuspecting cat right into the ocean or somewhere else equally harsh, but it was still a bad thing.

"I'll go!" GrassClan's trusted deputy, Embersplash, shouted, normally warm ember eyes shining with determination. Blizzardflight and Berrypelt were her second litter, as well as her more-treasured one, if only slightly. Blizzardflight's older siblings, Voleclaw and Willowfur, volunteered as well. Willowfur's slightly pregnant gray belly was a hindrance, but she shook it off as she stood next to the dark gray Voleclaw and the gray tabby Emberdrop. The deputy's mate, Rabbitstrike, who retired early because of his failing eyesight, showed his support as well.

Next, Bluebreeze, a pretty and lean bluish-gray she-cat with brilliant green eyes, joined the patrol. She and Blizzardflight were very good friends, but many suspected there was way more to it.

With these talented cats and Nightstar as well, the patrol set off the treacherous path that led them to the forest they shared with StoneClan for hunting. StoneClan was the other Clan that lived alongside them on another island close by. The two lived in relative harmony, with a gathering at the central island each moon and almost no fighting by the borders in the hunting forest.

Voleclaw almost got blown off the edge of the thin path, but no other accidents occurred, and they were able to safely make it to the hunting forest. However, once there, Bluebreeze, who was the best at scenting in the Clan, smelled heavy loads of StoneClan scent. Nightstar frowned, both worried about their lost warrior and anxious about his mate who just gave birth back in the Clan. He signaled with his tail for the other cats to be careful, and they all slunk up to where Bluebreeze found the scent to be the most concentrated. The sight they found was shocking.

The good news was, Blizzardflight was there, and he seemed relatively fine. The bad news was, four of the strongest StoneClan warriors surrounded him, snarling and spitting. Blizzardflight was trapped and hopelessly outnumbered, no matter how good at fighting he was. Just as Nightstar was about to order his cats to attack, not that they needed that order as all of them were already arching their backs, the StoneClan leader walked up to them. He was a mackerel tabby with green eyes, absolutely massive and ruthless.

"Bumblestar." Nightstar greeted tensely, black fur fluffed up with all the tension in the air.

"Nightstar." Bumblestar greeted him back faux-casually with an almost-unconscious ripple of his muscles.

"Would you care to explain why you've got one of my warriors surrounded?" The GrassClan leader asked, voice tight and barely compressing anger.

Bumblestar's black-tipped tail swished through the air slowly, making him look even more menacing as he licked a paw casually. "Well well well, wouldn't you like to know?"

Just as Nightstar was about to snarl an expletive, Bumblestar began to speak. "Alright, alright, I suppose I'll tell you. I've had enough of this so-called 'peace'. My Clan is growing bigger and bigger by day, and we need more hunting space. Of course, I won't leave you completely starved. We'll take three-fourths of the whole forest, then. Do you agree?"

Nightstar snarled, fur fluffing up even more. "No, you mousehearted scaredy-cat! We're growing as well, and we won't just give up part of our well-deserved territory!"

Bumblestar's fur fluffed up as well, almost doubling his size. "Well then. There will be a fight, a fight bigger than you have ever seen, and don't worry, I'll make sure your Clan is small enough to feed on that one-fourths of your territory." He smirked, then flicked his tail at the four cats surrounding Blizzardflight. They jumped on the young warrior, and a moment later, Blizzardflight ascended towards StarClan. Nightstar stared at Bumblestar, eye wide with anger. The family members of the warrior screamed, and dashed towards the five cats, too angry and sad to care that they were fighting a losing battle. Nightstar jumped into the frey as well, taking on a muscular white tom. He brought a scathing claw up on the other's head, and the tom was knocked back a bit, but soon came charging back, landing a hard blow on the leader's flank.

Nightstar yowled, before biting into the other's neck, not tight enough to kill, but enough to send him fleeing back to his territory. He took a breather and looked around. Willowfur was fighting another burly warrior with black fur, and even though she was trading blows furiously, she had to carefully avoid showing her belly, and that was a severe disadvantage. Nightstar took the opportunity when Willowfur landed a hard blow on the tom's head, and jumped onto his back, scratching and biting. Willowfur sent him back with a hard scratch alongside his flank. The she-cat nodded thankfully at Nightstar, then joined her brother in a fight against a swift she-cat, showing considerable teamwork.

Suddenly, Nightstar was caught, unaware, from the back, and landed on the ground with an "oof!". He quickly turned around and landed a hard blow onto his assailant, Bumblestar's, belly, and took the opportunity to stand back up. Bumblestar snarled at him, before extending his wickedly sharp claws and slashing him across the face.

Blinded by blood, the black-furred leader blindly scratched at his opponent, landing quite a few blows, but none strong enough to severely injure the other. The StoneClan leader, however, had injured Nightstar quite a bit. He had bit a corner off of Nightstar's left ear, scratched his leg hard enough to make the leader yowl in pain, and had landed a nasty blow onto the leader's head. However, Bluebreeze came to the rescue after she had taken care of her she-cat, fueled by adrenaline. She landed a hard slash across the other leader's face, drawing a pained yowl. Nightstar took this opportunity to wipe off the blood from his eye, and bit into the other's leg hard. With the two's teamwork, they managed to send off the StoneClan leader, winning the fight.

However, they were all more than slightly injured. Willowfur was limping, and her pelt was littered with scratches. Bluebreeze had a nasty scratch on her belly, and her flank had a long slash as well. Emberdrop, who had taken on Bumblestar before Nightstar, was injured the most. She was heaving heavily; her left leg was bitten very deeply, and Nightstar could almost see bone, and she was almost unconscious with the number of injuries on her body. Voleclaw was slightly better off than the others, albeit with a lot more shallow scratches.

Voleclaw and Nightstar took on the job of getting Emberdrop back to their home, carrying the she-cat on their backs. The patrol barely managed to get back to the Clan without collapsing, the strain of their injuries too much for them. As Mousewing and Poppypaw tended to his injuries, Nightstar wondered. "_How long will this have to go on?!_"

**TBC**


End file.
